When Rumple had first gone to play with the litter of puppies at Dale's house, Dale laughingly warned him that the puppy Rumple named Imp was a little troublemaker. As the puppy grew and was able to play more, it was easy to see the puppy had a sense of humor. If it moved, he would run circles around it and try to chase it in one direction or another.
That went for some of the neighbor's chickens after Rumple brought the puppy home. It was a bigger problem when he tried herding a pig in the market when Rumple brought him along when his family sold yarn, and in one instance he would have tried chasing a bull. Luckily, the first thing Rumple had taught him was to come when called, and Imp adored Rumple even more than playing his games. Still, it was clear the puppy needed to be kept busy. Rumple wasted no time in starting his training.
Imp had the basic idea already of how herding worked. More than one older shepherd in the area commented that the puppy had good instincts. Rumple had only to teach him the commands. Knowing he pleased Rumple by following those commands was all Imp needed to know to in order to focus on training. He loved the game, and now he knew the rules of it and that the humans he loved were happy when he played it right.
The part of the game Imp loved best was when Rumple asked him to gather the sheep in, and to search for any sheep that had gotten lost. Then Imp got a longer run, and had the fun of searching for any sheep that had strayed. He loved finding any that had wondered away and driving them back to the flock. Usually he was able to do it quickly. One day the game was over all too soon when Rumple called "That'll do."
It was the phrase used to tell Imp they were done herding for the day. Imp looked at his master and gave a whine, as if to ask if they couldn't please keep going.
"Come on now, Imp. We can have a walk with Dale before bed, but the sheep are all in. We'll work them again tomorrow."
The collie looked back at the sheep before following Rumple, but his mind was still on his favorite game. He woke up thinking about it early the next morning. Rumple wouldn't be up for a little while yet, and only a cloth hung in the doorway blocked his way outside. He was used to going outside to relieve himself. Why not keep going? There were sheep out there to herd somewhere!
It was a delightful time for Imp, roaming the fields and hills. His ears and nose told him where there were sheep, and he knew where home was. Rumple would be so proud! He would see what a good boy he had working for him! Imp knew he was such a good boy! Now their flock would be twice as big! He ignored the men who had been watching the sheep he was taking.
"Isn't that the Stiltskin boy's collie?" Cluney asked Erwyn, his friend and companion in watching the sheep.
"Sure, that's Imp. And- Wait, what is he doing?" Erwyn asked
"He's taking our sheep!" Cluney exclaimed in alarm.
"We'd better follow him and see where he takes them," Erwyn said, heading after the dog. "It beats being out in the sun all day, anyway. And Rumple lives closer to the village than we do, and you know what that means."
"What? Cluney asked.
"Closer to the pub."
Cluney laughed. "If there's ale, I'm in."
It was quite the site, seeing Imp work the sheep without any signals and clearly enjoying himself. He drove them to the sheep pen, but there was no way to get them inside it. Not without Rumple opening the gate. Then Imp looked to the hut. He could get them inside after all!
Rumple woke up to the sound of sheep. The loud "baaaaa" was the first thing he was aware of that morning. He rolled over and opened his eyes to see a flock in the hut. Imp was proudly wagging his tail and gave a cheerful bark. Rumple sat up quickly and looked at all the sheep. By now, Tiger Lily, Roberta, and Hilda were all awake too. All of them were in shock. Imp just gave another bark and slapped is paws on the ground, as if demanding praise.
"Imp, why did you bring all those sheep in here?" He looked closer at the flock. "Those aren't even our sheep!"
That didn't matter to Imp, and honestly it didn't matter much to the shepherds much either.
"Is that dog of your some kind of thief or something?" Cluney asked.
"He's not a thief," Rumple defended Imp, then laughed himself seeing Cluney was joking. "He just loves his job too much. You can take the sheep out of here whenever you're ready."
"Well, we don't have to see to that right away," Erwyn said. "We have some, er, business in the village anyway. Why don't we just keep the sheep in your pen for a bit and take them home later?"
So that's what they did. They were back later, laughing and a bit red faced, but at least able to drive the sheep. Imp whimpered as the sheep were lead away. He didn't understand why his human friends couldn't keep the sheep he'd worked so hard to bring home. Yet there were still two young ewes that were unclaimed. Cluney and Erwyn were sure they didn't belong to them.
"There have been sheep stolen the past few years," Roberta remembered, "and it's possible one or two of the stolen sheep got away, had their lambs, and were were found again by someone afterward. If they were separated from their lambs, they could have grown up in the fields away from people."
"A thief would want to keep them hidden," Hilda agreed. "So they would have been away from people when they got loose. They could have eventually ended up wandering near enough to Cluney and Erwyn's flock that Imp rounded them up with the others."
It made sense. These ewes acted like they were ready to bolt, but wouldn't run out the fence past Imp. He mirrored their movements and kept them inside until Rumple had the gate shut.
"So what do we do with them?" Tiger Lily asked.
"Maybe they could be tamed," Rumple suggested. "We can keep them for now and try anyway, if there's no way to know who their mothers belonged to."
The women knew Rumple had a point. Several stolen sheep had been pregnant. There was no way to know who had owned their mothers.
"There's no harm in trying to tame them anyway. We may as well try, and they're young enough that it could work," Tiger Lily said. "It's better than just turning them loose again."
Imp seemed to understand, and creeped under the fence to chase the two sheep closer to the rest of the flock. The humans doubled over laughing. Imp would get to keep his prize, and he barked in delight at their laughter.